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London sees hotel room rates plunge
Average room rates for London hotels have fallen below £100 a night for the first time since 1997.
A report by Deloitte & Touche has found London room rates have now declined for two years in a row, with last year's (2002) average London room rate being £97, compared with £104 in 2001 and £116 in 2000.
However, reduced room rates have helped sustain occupancy levels, with 76 per cent occupancy in 2002 being 2 per cent higher than 2001 - but still behind the 84 per cent recorded in 2000.
Marvin Rust, partner of travel, tourism and leisure at Deloitte & Touche said the city was suffering because of its reliance on US travel patterns and also the fall in business travellers to London - forcing hoteliers to 'discount prices to stimulate demand'.
Other major European capital cities, by contrast, saw an increase in room rates over 2002.
Average room rates for regional hotels in the UK fell just 0.7 per cent to £62 and since June occupancy levels have been slowly returning to 2001 levels. This is partly due, says Julia Felton, director of travel, tourism and leisure at Deloitte & Touche, to Britons who have holidayed at home having been put off travelling abroad. With sustained demand, regional hoteliers have not had to enter into significant price discounting.
'In real terms average room rates are still approximately £2.50 adrift of the highest rates recorded and so we anticipate some increase in average room rates during 2003, notwithstanding any conflict in the Middle East,' she said. Details: www.hotelbenchmark.com